Top Sports Moments of 2024
What moments defined the year in sports in 2024?
I’ve got a handful of moments that defined the year 2024 in sports. The NFL, NBA and MLB offered up several iconic moments that will outlast all other sporting memories from the past year. Certain moments are unforgettable. Here are the moments that defined sports in 2024.
NFL
#3: Cam Taylor-Britt talks shit and then backs it up
On September 15th, the Bengals matched up with the Kansas City Chiefs in another installation of an intense rivalry between the two teams. Several Bengals players referred to Arrowhead as “Burrow-Head”. The Chiefs obviously took offense. The tension between these two teams is palpable.
In classic corner fashion, Cam Taylor-Britt talked shit for no reason in an interview before the game without being prompted by anyone.
While discussing rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy of the Chiefs, Taylor-Britt stated
“He can run straight. Run jet sweeps and just run straight. He can’t do too much else, so that’s about it. I feel like if you put your hands on him, he’s only a 100-some pounds, so if you put hands on him, you’re gonna stop his speed, so basically get your hands on him.”
Taylor-Britt himself up for certain failure, and defied the odds by clamping Worthy on a go route and then proceeded to make the best catch I’ve ever seen by a corner. One-handed, absolutely pimped. In an encapsulation of their season however, the Bengals played well offensively and still lost by one point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb80nApHfaA
#2: Saquon Backwards Hurdle
Saquon Barkley is the best running back I’ve ever seen. He’s stupid twitchy, strong as hell, has open field burners and great vision. Behind a great offensive line, Saquon finally fulfilled his potential as a game-breaker for a good team. He also made the most athletic play I’ve ever seen. I still don’t know how it’s possible. Like he was in the Matrix, Saquon spun out Devin Llyod of the Jags. With his back still turned after the spin, Barkley’s butt was facing CB Jarrian Jones. Somehow, Saquon hurdled the fucking guy BACKWARDS. That’s not even possible in Madden. I’m grateful that Saquon is getting his flowers. He has always seemed like a great guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvBue3otWvE
The backwards hurdle also gave us this sick-ass poster…
#1 Mahomes to Kelce to Toney… Called back
The Mahomes to Kelce to Toney play occurred on December 10th, 2023, so I’m technically cheating but I don’t care. In a high stakes, late regular season game against their Rival, the Buffalo Bills beat the Chiefs 20–17. Kansas City’s relative offensive struggles were highlighted in this game. It took an incredibly ballsy and effective long-distance lateral from Kelce to Kadarius Toney to provide the Chiefs the offensive spark they needed. As the play was happening, it seemed like one of the iconic plays of all time. It’s hard to find a lateral to win the game outside of kickoff returns or last-second desperation plays. Kelce said fuck it, and went for it. Kadarius Toney however, is not a smart football player. He was called offsides (he definitely was), and the play was brought back.
Mahomes threw the hissy fit of his lifetime in response, laying the foundation for the narrative that he too would be the winner who became a villain. Much like his predecessor, Tom Brady. This play will go down as one of the most iconic plays in sports to be called back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15-8Z3TybNI
NBA
The NBA Playoffs did not live up to their standards in 2024. Few series contained a lot of close games. Even the 7 game brawl between the Wolves and Nuggets was defined by blowouts. Only one playoff series lived up to the hype: Knicks vs 76ers in the Eastern Semis. The Finals were also pretty chalk. It felt like a certainty that Boston would win and they did, with relative ease.
After the season, however, was the 2024 Olympics in Paris. USA basketball dominated in group play, and ultimately slid past Wemby and the French in the championship.
On their way to the gold medal game, they faced Serbia in the semi-final. Serbia boasted Nikola Jokic and essentially no one else that was relevant in professional basketball. Jokic is currently the best player in the world and he demonstrated that in the semi-final game. Nearly carrying a terrible Serbia team to the gold medal game while facing the USA Avengers.
Steph Curry struggled throughout most of the Olympics. His shooting numbers dragged behind his normal standard. Curry struggled nearly the whole games, up until the last moments of the Olympics. In the last possessions of the gold medal game, Curry came through when in the clutch.
Down the stretch against Serbia, Curry came alive like Frankenstein. Steph went nuclear. 9 3-pointers, and 36 points to avoid catastrophe for the red, white and blue. For dessert, Curry hit his trademark “night, night” celly. Despite being an old man, Steph Curry is still the man.
https://youtu.be/XBQCKKbYtl4?si=t4g6TpEhrTk1poN8
MLB
America’s third (or fourth?) favorite pastime doesn’t have the juice it once did. Playing 162 games creates an environment where the product has no scarcity. Each game means so much less to the season than it does in the NFL. That’s part of the reason for MLB’s fall from grace. Speaking strictly in terms of the 2024 in-game action, this past season was electric and unforgettable. Out of all the action, two guys on the Dodgers stood out above the rest.
#2: Freddie Freeman- Clutch God
Freeman came into the World Series having hit a home run in his last two World Series games with the Braves in 2021. All Freeman did was hit a home run in the first 4 games of this year’s World Series.
No big deal, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
Just a casual 12 RBI’s in 5 World Series games.
It’s whatever.
In game 1, with two outs in the 10th and the bases loaded, Freeman cranked a Nestor Cortes fastball over the right field fence for the first-ever game-ending World Series grand slam.
Oh yeah, and by the way, Freeman had to get ankle surgery immediately following the series. He gutted out every performance with a sprained ankle.
Grit, mental and physical toughness, leadership, the embodiment of excellence, and most of all: the definition of clutch. Freddie Freeman propelled himself to certain first-ballot Hall of Famer status this October.
https://youtu.be/i2y1x1R5sm0?si=Y2U6MPJS0pUFAZSK
#1: Shohei Ohtani- decidedly the greatest player in the history of baseball
There are no superlatives that can describe the greatness of Shohei Ohtani in 2024. Ohtani tallied an MVP season while providing no defensive value to his ball club.
Oh yeah, and by the way, he’s a top-20 pitcher in the majors who didn’t even pitch this year.
I really can’t even describe how good Ohtani is. In 2024, he became the first-ever MLB player with 50 homers and 50 steals.
Ohtani was not even supposed to be a good baserunner. That wasn’t even part of the original package when he came into the majors. Miraculously, he just decided that he was going to steal 50 bases!
He became the first player over 6’4” to steal more than 42 bases.
A historic season of value earned by a guy who also happens to pitch the ball at an elite level. Shohei’s full value has yet to be unlocked. Pray to god he stays healthy, and Shohei could reset everything we thought we knew about how good a baseball player can really be.
He’s the best ballplayer to ever lace them up, and he solidified that this year.
Mickey Mantle never got close to 50/50, neither did Willie Mays. Hell, Babe Ruth can’t even sniff the two-way prowess of Shohei.
Everything culminated in a late-season game against the Marlins, where Ohtani dished out the greatest statistical performance of all time. MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince does a better job of putting Ohtani’s greatness in perspective than I ever could.
…
“MLB has had individual games in which a player hit more homers, drove in more runs, had more hits. But the combination of power and speed was, much like Ohtani’s season as a whole, unprecedented. And you can pick any number of ways to put it into context:
No one had ever gone 6-for-6 with three homers, five extra-base hits and two steals.
No one had ever had six hits, three homers and a stolen base.
No one had ever had three homers and two steals.
No one had ever had 17 total bases in a game in which they didn’t go deep four times.
No one had ever had more than 11 total bases in a game in which they stole multiple bases.
No one had ever had a 10-RBI game with even a single stolen base.
With all due respect to former Dodger Shawn Green, who set the single-game record with 19 total bases in a four-homer game in 2002, what Ohtani did on Thursday was the greatest offensive performance we’ve ever seen, by perhaps the greatest player we’ve ever seen. To do it on the day he reached 50–50 and his club clinched what will be his long-awaited first postseason appearance was, like everything else involving Ohtani, incredible.”
